Howard's Big Bang Theory Change Shows Sheldon Might Grow Too
Simon Helberg's acting was humorous, but in the early seasons of The Big Bang Theory Howard Wolowitz was a very nasty villain. Howard recorded Penny's skirt in season one, then in season two he and Raj employed a drone to monitor the house America's Next Top Model candidates were residing in. Penny said even late in season 4 that Howard gave her a teddy bear with a covert camera inside, an act much beyond his typical sleazy harassing and into genuine criminal activity. This is easy to overlook since the program gently and discreetly modified Howard's persona.
By the last season, Howard was a completely different guy; this showed Sheldon could also evolve while keeping his appeal. Howard was a devoted family man at the end, but at first he was covertly filming Penny. While Penny was misled by The Big Bang Theory's less Character Development than her co-stars, Howard's transformations were incalculable once he started dating Bernadette. This made Sheldon's evolving character reasonable since his shortcomings were never as noticeable as Howard's eerie inclinations in the first place. Howard thus helped to create the more sympathetic version of Sheldon for the finale.
Why Sheldon's Big Bang Theory Mattered More and Took Longer?
Though Leonard was the original hero of The Big Bang Theory, Sheldon was so popular that he essentially replaced him in following seasons. Given he wasn't a supporting actor, this made his character development shockingly slow in relation to Howard's. The whole idea of the program revolved around his irrational behavior, thus Sheldon couldn't become kind overnight the way Howard became much less eerie lot faster. Raj's tight bond with Howard was another consideration. Though less subtly, Raj's womanizing methods enable his character to essentially take up Howard's place in the show's later seasons.
Raj made sure The Big Bang Theory still had a single antihero whose desperate, amoral efforts to get bedded gained laughter and pity from viewers when Howard at last settled down with Bernadette. On the other hand, if Sheldon behaved more sensibly and accommodated his buddy and partner, nobody could replace him. Sheldon was the topic of the first spinoff of the show as his unusual style of thinking was distinctive. The Penny character arc of The Big Bang Theory was so disappointing in part because her character was always more grounded from the start of the program.
The Greatest Supporting Star Change Secretly Saved Sheldon's Character: The Big Bang Theory
When The Big Bang Theory changed one of its key characters in the first few seasons, this subtly prepared Sheldon's Character Development. The hit Sitcom's emphasis was mostly on Johnny Galecki's Leonard and Kaley Cuoco's Penny when the cast of characters from The Big Bang Theory was originally revealed. The first two seasons of the sitcom were driven by their possible relationship; Cuoco and Galecki's chemistry kept fans riveted to see whether the geeky Leonard would ever court his glitzy, carefree neighbor Penny. Once Penny and Leonard got acquainted, Sheldon's breakthrough performance dominated.
By the end of The Big Bang Theory, the hang-out program no longer even concealed the fact that Sheldon was its de facto protagonist. Though Leonard and Penny were married off earlier, the events of the finale revolved mostly on Sheldon's Nobel Prize acceptance ceremony. When one compares a season 1 episode to the show's end, this change looks extreme; nonetheless, a lot of character rearranging took place in the next seasons. Most importantly, one supporting actor's significant early on character transformation showed Sheldon could grow to be the show's hero. The Big Bang Theory has already redeemed its worst feature years ago.
The Romantic Relationships of Howard and Sheldon Enhanced Their Characters
Howard's relationship with Bernadette proved he could really evolve in addition to adding a fresh star to the show. Howard's sloppiness vanished rapidly as he and Bernadette become more serious; what had been his distinguishing quality became a far milder running gag early in seasons 6 and 7. By contrast, Sheldon's stubbornness and negative attitude persisted long into his marriage to Amy and even helped to cause their brief separation. Having said so, despite their different relative speed, the change observed in both characters might finally be ascribed to their distinct relationships.
This could be justified by Sheldon's character defects being more entertaining than Howard's creepiness. While Sheldon's whole performance in The Big Bang Theory depended on his honest, hostile attitude, Howard has other traits that made him an interesting supporting actor in the show. Even this was addressed in Young Sheldon's greatest episode when the prequel series noted that Sheldon's austere demeanor was less entertaining since it estranged him from his boyhood friends. This led to the spinoff emphasizing Sheldon's family more while The Big Bang Theory made sure Amy's influence on Sheldon's self-centered perspective was slow and steady.
The Big Bang Theory Might Last Longer
Usually, hang-out sitcoms include an in-built expiration date. Once their separate key couples eventually got together for good, how I met your mother, friends, and perhaps possibly New Girl was always meant to end. The Big Bang Theory's treatment of Howard and Sheldon's development, on the other hand, shows how the program might have continued far longer since the rest of its heroes saw far less Character Development. Should the show go into its thirteenth run, the Big Bang Theory could have given Raj and Penny the same degree of development and attention that Sheldon and Howard experienced in past seasons.
Young Sheldon improved The Big Bang Theory by clarifying Sheldon's past, but the show sacrificed its predecessor in order to do so. Had the program gone on, the whole supporting cast could have have profited from Howard's development from a really frightening, disagreeable figure into a wonderful family man—a unexpected, creative arc. Sheldon's character development confirmed that the show could execute this kind of long-form narrative, but it stopped before Raj and Penny could get the same focus. The Big Bang Theory thus fell short of realizing its possibilities.
